What *Really* is the Purpose (or nature) of Transfiguration?

[greg_a126]

No: HPFGUIDX 39740

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "archeaologee" <JPA30 at c...> wrote:
> This thread has got me wondering.  How permenant is 
transfiguration?
> 
<snip>
Also the pin cusion that kept curling into a ball, that seems to 
suggest that it  was really a hedgehog all along.  <snip>

> This would mean that a leaf transfigured into food would remain a 
> leaf, so not nourish you....
> 

So then this brings us right back to my original point.  If a 
transfigured leaf still acts like a leaf & doesn't nourish you, and 
a pin cushion is still a hedgehog, just pretending then what is the 
purpose of Transfiguration?  If all Transfiguration is only 
temporary & only changes the appearance of a thing, doesn't that 
make it even more useless then if you were actually creating 
yourself a new pin-cushion?

The other suggestion that's come up is dealing w/ all of the animals 
may be a way to prepare those who are capable & ready to become 
Animagi.  But is being an Animagi so incredibly valuable to the few 
who can do it that they would force thousands of students to learn 
transfiguration so that 7 of them can become Animagi legally?  And 
if you think it's so that people can become illegal Animagi, I for 
one don't really see prim-and-proper McGonagall teaching a subject 
that's sole goal is to allow people to break the law.  So again, 
isn't the whole subject pretty useless on the whole?  

Greg